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The TIE/br boarding shuttle had an enlarged, hollow secondary pod with clamps and a hull-cutter. The primary pod is also large enough to be capable of retrieving escape pods.[1] Although they generally were in the same design basis as the TIE/sa bomber, some have had the pods inverted.[1]

It was used to deliver small stormtrooper boarding parties onto captured or disabled ships when larger vessels such as the Gamma-class assault shuttle were not appropriate for the task. Unlike most craft in the TIE Series, the boarding craft was equipped with landing gear and was able to land on a hangar deck instead of in an overhead launch rack. Passengers could then disembark via a boarding ramp. It can also retrieve any life pods if an S.O.S. signal is transmitting.[1]

In some cases, such as requiring a quick air extraction, the TIE/br is also equipped with a droplift ladder.[2]

This ship was designed for the very firstStar Wars film, but the exterior model would not make it into any scenes. The design would be resurrected for The Empire Strikes Back as the TIE bomber and the TIE shuttle. Likewise, the TIE/sa bomber itself also featured a similar usage to the TIE boarding craft in Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike, in the Raid at Bakura mission, as Wedge Antilles, if the player gets a Silver Medal or better, will have to hijack a TIE bomber in order to rescue Hobbie after he was shot down on Bakura.